Rehabilitation
by anigasm
Summary: After a horrible event, Last Order and the Sisters decided to terminate the Misaka Network for the safety of their Onee-sama and the general public. Accelerator sacrificed everything to save Last Order and Worst, his failure being evident with his brain's inability to function. The Railgun, listening to a plea from Last Order, finds herself the visiting hopeless comatose everyday.


**Got this idea while watching/reading Railgun. It's my first time trying my hand writing for this fandom, so here's to a new adventure lol~**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

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She visited him.

Every day.

For someone she self-proclaimed, "hated so much," she was seeing him an awful lot lately. Not that he could see her, but he could _feel_ her watching him. Ever since the incident where Last Order had to terminate the Misaka Network, effectively killing all the clones in the process, neither he or she had been the same. It was on an emotional level for her, and a physical level for him because he would never, _ever_ , admit to missing the brat or Worst.

The fact that he had tried to save Last Order and Worst by attempting to hack into their minds to separate them from the Misaka Network, had no correlation with his feelings whatsoever. That stunt of his caused more damage to his already-shot frontal lobe, along with other brain tissue. Ever since he's been dully aware that he's in a hospital, or lab, of some form. Alive, but just barely, because the brain of the strongest esper to ever live was definitely more valuable alive than dead; even if it was just barely alive.

Accelerator could see, but he couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. For him, it was easier to keep his eyes closed than try to figure out what he was looking at. Other than that, he only had a slight bit of his hearing left, little sense of smell, decent understanding of touch, and enough recognition of taste to feel his rotting breath. As far as motor function, opening and closing his eyes was as advanced as it got. He couldn't even describe how he knew he was still living; all he knew was that he was there.

With her watching him.

Mikoto had been showing up like clockwork to the specialized esper-hospital Accelerator was being cared for in. Before school, after school, and days off were spent staring at the living corpse. She hadn't bothered to try and talk to him since she was told by the frog-doctor that even if he could hear her, he most likely wouldn't be able to understand what she was saying.

The electromaster was well aware of his previous shooting incident, and how he was able to still live a fairly normal life with some of his abilities through the Misaka Network. The Sisters never really seemed to mind him, which she couldn't even begin to wrap her mind around. Last Order and Worst _lived_ with him, and actually seemed to _enjoy_ it. That, in addition to watching him desperately try to save Worst and Last Order, made him present in her thoughts more often than she'd like to admit.

Last Order, before being affected by her own order of termination, had somehow left a message for Mikoto through the remains of the network.

She begged her not to let, "Accel-chan," be alone. That he wasn't bad; that he was actually nice once you got to know him. How he never wanted to be apart of the Level 6 project; how he was terrified of being alone. She sobbed for her to save him. That if any part of what made up Last Order came from Mikoto, which technically all of it did, then she'd be able to forgive him.

Thus her visits began a week after the incident, mostly because it took a few days to figure out where exactly Accelerator was taken to. At the same time, the Railgun started to research the brain more than she ever thought she would. Including nerve patterns, brain cells, stem cells, and all the like. After various talks with the frog-doctor, all that was left was for her to do it.

To try it, more preciously.

It took a lot of kicking herself in the ass, as well as remembering Last Order's message for the Level Five to bring herself to being somewhat-ok with it.

Six months after the incident, Mikoto walked into the room with more of a purpose than to just stare at Accelerator. She set her book bag down to lean against the edge of the bed, and got closer to him than she had been in months. He looked wrongfully peaceful, and she couldn't imagine the hell of isolation he was in. Her process of trying to forgive him would probably never succeed, but it's had much more progress in the recent months than ever before. So, she figured he at least deserved a chance. Mostly it was just to settle the echo of Last Order in her mind though.

The middle-school-student pressed a button on the side of the bed, which brought it up in a sitting-yet-leaning-back position. The only reason Accelerator didn't fall out of the bed was because he was literally strapped in. Slowly, she climbed on top of him so that one knee was resting on either side of his lap and was careful not to put any weight onto his body. Any other person would consider this straddling, except for Mikoto.

She took a moment to look at him – to _really_ look at him. Somehow, he was paler than usual. The stark white hair he was known for had grown considerably, it was longer than the Railgun's now. His cheeks were sunken in, even for his skinny nature, and he just didn't look … alive. If not for the beeping of the heart monitor, Mikoto would assume that he was dead.

Her hands reached out to either side of his head, so that her palms and fingers spread across his scalp with her thumbs resting on his temples. She touched her forehead to his, and immediately shivered at how cold it was.

"If this works," she mumbled, "just don't reflect me into the wall or somethin', you hear?"

Closing her eyes, she focused her esper abilities. Small electrical currents flowed from her hands into his brain, as well as a larger current from her forehead into his. Studying his chart allowed her to pinpoint his injuries more accurately. The forehead current was for the frontal lobe damage, and her hands wrapped around his head was for the additional damaged from when he tried to save Last Order and Worst.

It had been a few minutes, and Mikoto was carefully calculating changes in the frequency and voltage for all the access points. What over 10,000 clones did for him, she was trying to do herself.

 _'Please, Onee-sama! Don't let Accel-chan be alone! Save him, like he did for me! Misaka Misaka-'_

Last Order's plea was haunting her every move, and about fifteen minutes into it the heart monitor started to beep a little faster.

His heart rate was rising. A few moments later, his breaths were deeper and more frequent. His eyes started to move around in their sockets, and slowly he opened them; after the blurriness subsided, they widened.

He tried to form words, but only strangled noises came out. Mikoto opened her eyes at this, and was met with glaring-red irises.

"Welcome back, Accelerator," she whispered.

He tried to speak again, but Mikoto promptly hushed him.

"I'm trying to concentrate. Let me get the frequencies stabilized and then I'll figure out the voice part," she closed her eyes again, and then added as an afterthought, "unless you just want to resume being a vegetable?"

Accelerator's attempt to speak stopped short at that comment.

A few moments later, she spoke again, "You know … this is what I thought my DNA map would've been used for. The vast potential of this ability is astonishing to say the least. I thought they were going to cure paralysis, fatal diseases, stuff of that sort. I never thought they'd make over 20,000 clones of me to be slaughtered. I'm not saying it's not your fault too, but I'm also to blame for the Sisters' involvement with the Level 6 project."

He was watching her intently, mostly because she was all he could actually see. He could feel different parts of his brain engaging, and suddenly he was able to feel the sheets on the bed, Mikoto's hands in his hair, and where her forehead was resting against his.

"I'm sorry, for enabling you to be in that position," she was speaking quietly, but it was at the same time his hearing became a lot sharper as well.

A few more moments passed, and she opened her eyes to see his reflecting a shocked-expression.

"Sorry, there were over 10,000 to balance this with before. Now it's just me, and the damage is worse. I think this should give you your voice back," she dug her fingers a little harder into his scalp, and he could feel the voltage increase slightly. After a moment she leaned back from him, and a slight electrical current connected their foreheads. Removing her hands produced the same effect.

"The hell are you doing this for?!" were the first broken, hoarse, words out of his mouth.

"Last Order asked me to," she responded. "She begged me not to leave you alone, to forgive you … Not that I ever thought I could consider the possibility, but she told me a little about you."

"All that brat was capable of was being annoying and telling lies," he croaked, not quite used to being able to speak again.

"See, I don't think that's true. In my final moments, for my last request, I wouldn't lie to someone about it. Since she came from me, I'd assume she would do the same. Last Order really cared about you, Accelerator."

"Shut up. When the hell did I say that I wanted help?!" he would've screamed at her if he could, but it came out as a harsh dying-whisper instead.

"I know that it's quite a shock to wake up like this after so long, and I'm not sure what level of consciousness you had before. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I left you like this though, because even if you've done bad things in the past I know you're capable of doing good things as well."

"Shut up," he didn't have enough saliva in his mouth to spit at her, so he settled for harshly blowing at her instead.

"Don't do it for me then. Do it for Last Order; for Worst," she tried. "For all the Sisters you killed, for all the Sisters you tried to save."

His glare harshened, but he took a minute to think it over and after an annoyed scoff said, "I'm just a piece of flesh and meat anyways. The only reason they're keeping me alive is so that they can try to learn more about my ability that they're so obsessed with. Congratulations, you managed to replicate the Misaka Network, but I'm sure you don't want to, and probably can't, manage my brain forever."

"It's not particularly hard to keep your basic functions in tact, I'll admit, but I don't know how it would be if I were to enable your calculations and ability as well. I'm not talking about making another electrode-choker…" she paused for a moment before continuing, "I think I can restore your brain to its original condition."

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow, one of his motor movements that he was too familiar with to forget. "How're you going to do that, third-rate? I don't remember them offering that up when I got shot."

"The Sisters don't – didn't – have abilities like mine. It was the same type, but not the same power or precision. I told you earlier, that I originally gave my DNA map to help people like," she gestured to him up and down with her eyes, "this. If I'm right, I can force your brain and stems cells to divide and heal the damage. I think I can rebuild your brain … literally."

"Sounds too perfect, you'll probably just take the opportunity to fry my brain for good if you don't screw it up before that," he countered.

"Is the life you're living right now any better?" she deadpanned. "I studied your chart, based off your brain activity you still have some level of consciousness and understanding. Isn't that hell, being alone with yourself?"

"It's a lot more peaceful than you waking me up," he rolled his eyes. "Although, I'll admit it does get really fucking boring at times. If I'm back to my old self, then I'll be able to sleep voluntarily anyways. How do we do this then?"

"First, I have to know, if I can get you back to your original self; what're you going to do?" she gave him a skeptical stare.

"I'm not going to go around to blow people up just for fun, if that's what you're asking. I don't know, my life before was preoccupied by a hole in my head and the brat. The hell kind of answer you looking for?"

"Just promise me that you won't hurt any more innocent people," Mikoto looked like she was trying to read his soul, or more like find if he even has one.

"That shit means nothing, and you know it!" he chuckled.

"Accelerator!" she yelled. From the look on her face, and possibly the fact that she was sending various electrical currents into his brain to allow him the privilege of thinking, he caved.

"Fine. I'll spare innocent lives and pull rainbows out of my ass," his words dripped with mockery.

"Good enough for you," she sighed. "This is how it will work. I'll be here everyday to do sessions, per say, with you. I'll wake you up, like this," she wiggled her fingers for affect, "and then I'll start to play around with the electrical currents in your brain. This is the first of its kind, so we're just going to have to go by trial and error. I also want you to understand, I guarantee nothing. Got it?"

"Aye aye, captain," he blew a piece of hair out of his face.

"Let's get started then," she placed her forehead against his, and reconnected her hands to his skull.

Sometime, in the midst of whatever Mikoto was doing, the prideful highest-ranked Level Five mumbled out, "I'm sorry too. They were very … important to me."

It almost cost Accelerator what little was left of his brain, just blurting it out from no where like that while she was in deep concentration; it gave the third Level Five a little more reassurance though as she was attempting to rebuild the most complex human organ for the villain-turned-hero.

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 **Reviews are always loved!**


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